


I Only Saw Her Once; That Was All I Needed

by klaviergavout



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe, SteamWorld Heist
Genre: F/F, this is so self-indulgent and cheesy im dyin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6451651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klaviergavout/pseuds/klaviergavout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Piper Faraday swears she doesn't need someone in her life. She's just too busy for love, and besides, the whole idea of 'soulmates' and 'love at first sight' is far too overrated. Suddenly, she meets someone new at Lola's, and everything changes-well, kind of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Only Saw Her Once; That Was All I Needed

“Seabrass, we’ve spoken about this _before,_ ” said Piper, her eyebrows furrowed and her arms crossed. “I don’t need, or want, a man in my life.”

“Never said it had to be a _man,_ Cap’n—”

“It makes no difference. I don’t have time to find myself a _soulmate_ or whatever people call lovers these days. I’m sure it’d be just as wonderful as everyone makes it out to be, but right now, we’re practically trying to round up and eliminate half of the rogue population. I can’t focus on two big things at once. It’d drive me mad.”

“You need to loosen up, aye.” Seabrass puffed in contempt. “Back when I sailed the high seas, all I wished for was calm waters and a beautiful bonnie, me.”

“Mmhm.”

* * *

It had been a busy evening at Lola's. Steambots of all shapes and sizes littered the bar, drinking merrily and conversing even with total strangers. Voices rattled the walls and echoed across the building, and there was never a moment of silence. The atmosphere was homely and familiar, yet just as crowded and noisy as any other bar- this, Piper thought, as she surveyed her surroundings on the way in, was probably a selling point.

  
Piper, smiling somewhat tiredly, took a seat at the bar. Seabrass sat down on the stool to her immediate left and, as he did so, he chuckled under his breath.  
  
"It sure is good to be back here, Cap'n," Seabrass said. "I've missed this place."  
  
"Me too, Seabrass," Piper replied, directing a small nod at the barkeep. "You want anything?"  
  
"Just the usual, please n' thanks."  
  
It took no time at all for Taps Wire to rush to the other side of the bar, take their orders with a promptness that was almost intimidating in its manner, and pour them both something to drink. "I call this the Taps Special," she said, producing two whiskey glasses of viscous black liquid proudly, "because Taps, well, she made it for two very special customers."  
  
(Of course, there wasn't anything special about the drink itself. It was just some bog standard oil with some mysterious flavouring in it; but, being robots, they weren't built to taste the difference.)  
  
"Cheers, Taps," Piper said, and downed her glass.  
  
"You're a darlin', Taps," Seabrass said, and gulped his drink down.  
  
Taps had never looked so proud as she pivoted around on her wheel. "Aw, shucks. You can have that round on the house, bots."  
  
After directing a wink at the two of them, she went off towards another group of customers waiting patiently for her. Piper took notice of this, a calm smile on her face- a drink at Lola's was all she needed to calm down in worrying times like these.

* * *

"Well, Seabrass, we'd better head off."  
  
"Aye, cap'n."  
  
The two slid off their stools in what seemed to be perfect unison, and gave each other a grin. Year after year of working together had rendered the two not only fearsome team mates on the battlefield, but inseparable friends. Seabrass was one of the only people she could truly trust, and she knew him better than she knew her own gun. Their actions, their conversations, their instincts- it all went like clockwork, even when they were pitted against the fiercest challenges. Days like these, however, were days where they could forget all that, and be there for each other's minds rather than their chassis.  
  
As the two began chatting about their upcoming heist, moving slowly towards the doorway, Piper became distracted. The door slid open before she could notice, and suddenly, with a loud clang and collision, she found herself pulling out her revolver on instinct, and pointing it right between the eyes of what she had bumped into.

And she suddenly couldn't look anywhere else but the floor in front of her, couldn't move her gaze away, for she had just pulled her gun out on a pretty automaton lady, and their eyes were wide with fear and surprise.

Their piercing, wonderful eyes.

 _"Scrap."_ Piper swore under her breath, handing her gun quickly to Seabrass, holding out a hand for the dark-haired steambot. "I am _so_ sorry, ma’am, I didn't mean to scare you, it's habit, you see--"

She quickly shut up when the other bot took her hand gently, and she pulled them to their feet. It was just as well, since words didn't seem to be coming as easily as before.

"I-I-It's OK," they said, smiling warmly back at her.

* * *

A good full minute passed, and neither had let go of the other's hand. Piper looked down at their hands, still clasped, and her boiler seemed to churn. Luckily, the other robot seemed to notice her discomfort, and let go with a nervous puff of steam.

"Whoops! I forgot to l-let g-g-go."

"It's fine. Ma'am. Don't worry about it."

"Y-Yeah."

Both of them laughed awkwardly at the situation, trying to distract themselves, but to no avail. Seabrass, who had been observing all this with a wry smile, nudged Piper to get her attention. She turned around, embarrassed and annoyed from the prior scenario, and tilted her head down towards him. Seabrass whispered something into her ear, which was evidently not well received, as she frowned and released a short puff of steam from her lips in annoyance.  
  
He chuckled to himself, and left without another word.

* * *

Piper turned back to the other steambot, who was still looking in her direction, her head slightly tilted in confusion.

“My, uh, my assistant has gone back to the ship to, um. _Refill the oil tanks!_ Yes. That.” Piper cleared her throat, flustered. That was a lucky save. “While he’s doing that, ma’am. Would you like to, well. Grab a drink. From the bar?”

The pretty robot’s look of bemusement faded, quickly replaced with a mischievous grin. “Sure! B-But if you’re g-g-gonna start offering m-m-me drinks, you shoul-d probably stop c-c-calling me _ma’am._ ”

Piper watched her dignity crumble before her very eyes.

* * *

“You did _what?”_ No less than twenty minutes in, Piper Faraday was listening intently as Rabbit spoke, her mouth open a little in surprise. They had been talking about many aspects of their lives, but as soon as the other automaton had mentioned a war- that she herself had been in- Piper had been intrigued.

“We rode t-the giant robot giraffe into b-battle, and then, th-th-then, we _b-beat the copper elephants in-to a p-p-pulp!_ ”

“ _Really!_ ”

Rabbit held the back of her neck, a little embarrassed that she'd gotten so carried away. “W-Well. Not i-into a _pulp,_ b-b-because that w-would’ve been impos-s-sible. But I did manage t-t-to slice one up a-and cut off its circuits! I’m s-still a little proud of that.”

“Wow. That’s, that’s really impressive.” Piper’s former view of Rabbit as a damsel-in-distress character was very quickly fading; before her sat more of a shieldmaiden than anything else. “What happened after you managed to attack the elephant, Rabbit? Did your brothers come to help?”

Rabbit fell silent at the mention of her brothers' involvement, and looked away from Piper, down at the bar counter. “I d-d-don’t really wan-na t-talk about it.”

Piper nodded, and after a moment of hesitant decision, laid a hand on Rabbit’s shoulder.

* * *

“Y-You d-d-did _what?_ ” No less than twenty minutes later, Rabbit was on the edge of her seat, her mouth gaping wide as Piper spoke. After they had quickly diverted the subject away from Rabbit’s combat long ago, it had been Piper’s time to shine- and once she had mentioned one of her crew’s heists of a Scrapper ship, she had really attracted Rabbit’s attention. (Not that she hadn’t been listening before, mind.)

  
Piper laughed softly at Rabbit’s flabbergasted reaction. “It wasn’t anything much, really. Me and my crew just kinda shot them all down. Seabrass went for their leader soon enough, I looted some swag, and after that we called it quits.”

“That’s so _c-c-c-cool._ ” Rabbit grinned breathlessly. “So, w-what’re you doing now t-that you d-d-d-defeated those guys? Have the S-Scrappers left y-y-you alone?”

Piper shrugged her shoulders. “Well. I wouldn’t say their ranks are completely diminished. We still have yet to defeat their overlord- a Scrapper known only as Chop Sue. I’ve been told that she can raise an army of soldiers from piles of scrap in _mere seconds._ ” She shuddered a little, her nerves eminent. “But as for the grunts, well, they’ve certainly learnt not to mess with _us_ unless they have some sort of death wish.”

That earned a small laugh from Rabbit. “Y-You tell ‘em!”

Smiling and rather flattered, Piper muttered a thank you.

* * *

“Rabbit!” Piper and Rabbit’s conversation was interrupted by a silver-coloured robot in a waistcoat, who briskly walked up to them with a frown and tapped Rabbit on the shoulder. He had a guitar slung over his back, and his eyes, Piper noticed, were a brilliant emerald green. “Rabbit. Sorry about the wait, I had to get Hatchworth’s boiler under control again. You know what last-minute repairs are like.” A sigh. “We’re starting in five minutes, are you ready?”

Rabbit looked confused for a moment, but when she realised whatever it was he meant, her eyes widened in shock. “ _Oh!_ ” Turning to Piper with a saddened look on her face, Rabbit spoke. “I t-t-told you that I’m i-in a b-b-band, right?”

Piper nodded.

“W-W-Well, I was s-so b-b-busy talking to you that I-I-I forgot we h-had a show t-to perform.” Her smile was a little softer now, laced with disappointment. She touched Piper’s arm lightly, and looked askance. “Can you s-stay for a w-w-while? I d-d-d-don’t know whether y-you have to g-g-get back to y-your ship soon. Beat u-up some Scrap-p-pers, yknow.”

Piper looked up and saw the other robot looking at her, an eyebrow raised, smirking knowingly. She glared at him, unamused- she knew what he was getting at- but quickly looked back at Rabbit and smiled.

“I’m sure no one would mind.”

Rabbit beamed.

* * *

After Rabbit had waved her off and they’d promised to meet up again sometime, Piper walked through the doors and onto her ship. A small sigh escaped her lips as the door clicked shut behind her and she thought about the girl, and the war, and her brothers, and her eyes- oh, her eyes, they were _surreal_ \- and the battles and the past and most of all her _voice_ , her wonderful, beautiful voice.

* * *

Once she reached the top deck of the ship, she felt a nudge on her shoulder, and turned around to see Seabrass’ grinning face.

“Congratulations on finding your _soulmate_ , Cap’n.”

“Shut up.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Red & Copper](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6532243) by [poisonling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonling/pseuds/poisonling)




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